Valice Press
Valice Press

Free companion

Mythical Monsters: Volume One, The Dragon

Free material for Gould's Mythical Monsters: six of his claims set against what is actually established, his sources graded from the Shan Hai King to the Straits Times, the dragon vocabulary, and three ways in.

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Reading material

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  • Six claims, and what is actually known

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    Gould believed dragons were real animals. His prose is equally confident whether he is reporting a text, reporting a fact, or drawing a conclusion, and he never marks the transitions. This sheet sets six of his claims beside what is established, and says which is which.

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  • His sources, graded

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    The Chinese classics, which are genuinely old and honestly used; the classical authors, mostly quoting one another; the Renaissance naturalists, compiling from those; and the Victorian newspapers, which are not evidence of anything.

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  • The dragon vocabulary

    PDF · US Letter · 1 page

    Eighteen terms — lung and ying-lung, the Shan Hai King and the Yih King, the real gliding lizard Draco that Gould presses into service — each with the chapters it appears in.

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  • Three ways in

    PDF · US Letter · 1 page

    Where to start, with Gould's own chapter numbers so it works with any edition of the 1886 text — including the twenty-minute route for readers who want the measure of the book before committing to it.

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About this material

Charles Gould died in 1893, so his 1886 text has been in the public domain everywhere Valice sells since 1 January 1964 (source: Project Gutenberg #40972). The register of claims, the graded source list, the glossary and the reading paths are Valice Press's own writing. None of the 1886 figures is reproduced: the book names no illustrator, so they cannot be cleared.

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